My mother-in-law called Mike this mornin and said one of his sisters was diagonsed with breast cancer. He doesn't know if she found a lump or how they found it.... He doesn't know how bad it is, either... She's supposed to go to France in a couple of weeks and he's not sure if they're going to start chemo and radiation and what not before she goes or wait till she gets back...

So, in other words, I don't know much of anything about it. Just ask that yall keep her in your thoughts (and maybe work some PBT magic).

He talked to his mom today and asked about his sister. They did a MRI on her and said that it doesn't look like the mass has spread yet, and that they should be able to go in and get it out... She is going to go ahead and go to France first, then when she gets back they are going to do surgery to remove it. I'm still not sure about anything else, yet. Will try and keep yall updated?

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

Jean didn't know she had the lump. She went and had her mamogram done and that's how they found it. She didn't tell anyone about it for a week or so because she didn't think it was anything. Her Dr. wanted to do an xray to make sure and when they looked, it showed it was cancer. They said they needed to do a biopsy to figure things out. So, they did it and she went off to France for a week or so.... When she came back they told her she needed to have surgery and depending on how things looked would determine chemo and radiation or not.

So, today she had the surgery to remove the lump. There was just one... But they told her that it's much more aggressive and a little further along than they originally thought. They are going to go ahead and start her on the chemo and radiation. So, now we wait and see what happens.

With Easter, Mother's day and one of her sons graduating college and the other highschool(I think) this is going to get really stressful for her.

She's not really talking to their mom about it... She's telling two of his other sisters and they are talking to my MIL about it... Jean said it's too emotional to talk about with her mom. Also, MIL doesn't know about the chemo and radiation yet.... They don't want her to know about it right now.

iluvk9 wrote:As my Dr.told me when he found a suspicious lump: "Breast cancer is VERY treatable nowadays." So, we will think positive for her and believe she will be a survivor of the disease.

Yup exactly!

Good thoughts for her. Chemo and radiation are rough on the body, so I hope she has a ton of support at home. Also, she should see if her hospital has support groups and/or classes. My mom's first round of chemo for her ovarian cancer was a group thing: a whole group of women who had chemo at the same time. They would have group therapy/question answer sessions, they would have people come in and teach them how to do make up while going through chemo so that it didn't look weird, they had wig trying on sessions, and after each round of chemo they would leave with a little gift (usually an ovarian cancer pin, or something of the sort). I think it was a wonderful program to have.

Also if she knows anyone else who has gone through breast cancer treatments, tell her to reach out to them. Talking it out with someone who has been through it before, who ISN'T family or super close friend, can sometimes be more helpful than trying to talk about it with family (as it can be emotionally draining).

So plenty of good thoughts, tell her to seek out some support services, and she'll fight through it and come out on the winning end.

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." -Anatole France